Reservoir-well



(No Model.)

D. H. TIOHENOR. Reservoir Well.

Patented Oct. 26, 1880..

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UNITE STATES ATENT rrron DAVID H. TICHENOR, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

RESERVOIR-WELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,'714, dated October 26, 1880.

Application filed August 31, 1880.

To all 'whom 'it may cmcm Be it known that I, DAVID H. TICHENOR, of the city of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Reservoir-lVells, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in reservoir-wells, and is an improvement upon the well for which I have filed application for Letters Patent under date ot' August 3, 1880.

The iuveution described in the said application consisted, primarily, in forning an underground ehamber at'the bottom of a well of large bore, that the water-supply might be drawn from a great area and drain as large a number of water-veins as possible.

My present improvements consist in applying an air-tight cover to the top ot' the wellcasing for the purpose of forming an air-chamber in which a partial vacuum may be produced, and in drawing ot't' the water at sone level below the cover, so as to utilize the space above the water as an air-vessel to ease the operation of the well-pump, while the partial Vacuum in the said space produces a greater flow of water from the veins feeding the reservor through the atmospheric pressure thereby developed upon the sources of the watersupply.

My improvement is designed, priinarily, to increase the flow of water from the supplyiugveins into the well-reservoir, and, secondarily,

'to ease the working of the pump employed to drain the well by utilizing a portion of the well-casing as an air-clamber.

The first object is at once efi'ected by applying an air-tight cover or partition to the wellcasing, either at the top or any convenient point above the surface ot" the water, and eX- hausting the'air from inside the casing. The second may be effected by introducin g the suction-pipe into the well through the side below the cover, or by projectin g it down ward a suitable distance through the cover, the space above the open end of the pipe in either case serving as an air-Vessel to ease the working of the pump.

In the drawings, A is the ground in which the well is excavated by the process described in my former application. B represents a hard stratum near enough to the surface to sustain (No model.)

the concrete bed l). 0 is the well curb or casing, composed of sections G', bolted together by flangesfand bolts c. E is the underground reservoir. F is the air-tiglt cover, shown applied to the top flange of the well e and packed and secured thereto in any desired nanner. Gr is a timber t'rame to transfer the weight ot' the curb to the supporting eoncrete bed D. H is the suctio-pipe from the pump, inserted into a socket, I, t'ormed in the side ot' the curb at a suitable distance below the ground to lead conveniently to the well-pum p. J is a pipe leaded into the same socket, and extended downward in the well to the lowest or natural level ot' the water, (indicated by theline a: m.)

It is obvious that if the pump were started with the mouth of the pipe in the water no vacuum or rarefaction of the air in the casi g would be produced as long as the water supplied the draft caused by the pump, and as the object of my iuvention is to employ a Vacuum in the casing to stimulate the flow into the reservoir from the water-veins, I must shorten the water-pipe or increase the draft of the puinp upon the well.

The former course would prevent the punp from drawing any water whatever in a time of drought, and I therefore increasel'the demand of the punp upon the well for the purpose of producing a vacuum, and thereby increasin'g the supply of water to the reservoir andraising the level of the water in the casing.

By forming a holc from one-half to one inch in diameter in the pipe J at any desired point below the range of atmospheric power to lift the water, a vacuum can be maintained without interfering with the pumpin g operation, even it' there should be a leakagc of airinto the well from any of the joints in the casing. Without this hole to draw a certain amount of air from the well at each stroke of the pump the degree of Vacuum produced would only raise the water-level continuously to cover the mouth ot' the pipe J, and the greatest supply of water to the reservoir would not be Secured.

The function of the hole b is to steadily increase the rarefaction ot' the air in the casing and the flow of water from the veins into the reservoir without interfering with the pumpin g of water continuously from the well. The flow IOCl of water from the veins may be thus materially increased until the level of the water in the casing is raised by the vacuum therein to a level with the hole b, when the rarefaction of the air would cease until such time as the water-level again felibelow the point marked w,just above the hole I).

The space above the line w serves as an airvessel to the well-pump, permitting a t'ree flow of water to the punp at each stroke, which draft is made up by the contimous flow into the reservoir while the pump is reversing or changing stroke.

This mode of increasing the vacuum without shortening the suetion-pipe secures ali the advantages of an increased flow of water from the supplying-veins, while it obviates the dauger ot' a serious accident to the punp if the end of the pipe were suddenly uncovered and the piston allowed to make a stroke too suddenly.

The use ot' the concretc (shown at D in the drawings) depends upon the existence ot' hard strata nearthe surface, upon which the Weight ot' the curb O is to be thrown. hen such strata exist I employ the concrete to distribute the weight perfectly over aeonsiderable area and to bind the surface together firmly immediately beneath the concrete. The frame G is meant to distribute the load over the concrete but may be dispensed with by making the supporting-fiauge c sufficiently broad.

Having thus described my invention, I claim the same in the following nanner:

1. Iu a reservoir-well, the eombiuation, sul)- stantially as herein described, of the casing 0, air-tight cover F, and suction-pipe arranged to draw off the water from the easing at some point below the cover, so as to leave an airspace in the top of the casing, substautially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a reservoir-well, the combination of a covered casing having a partial vacuuu maintained iu its upper part, for the purpose described, with a suction-pipe, J, extending downward to the natural level of the water, for the purpose lerein set forth.

131 testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereto set my hand this 19th (lay of August, A. D. 1830.

' D. H. TIOHENOR.

Attcst:

THos. S. ORANE, H. THEBERATH. 

